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Pete's Harbor tenants still fighting to stay

January 11, 2013, 05:00 AM By Michelle Durand Daily Journal Staff

The remaining tenants at Pete's Harbor have only a few days before eviction day but they are not going down without a fight.

"There are no pitchforks but we are saying we're going to stay,” said Alison Madden, the group's representative who is also battling the eviction in San Mateo County Superior Court.

A judge earlier this week denied a temporary restraining order request by the live-aboard tenants at the Redwood City marina but the group is now arguing in court that the owner doesn't have the right to evict them Jan. 15 because she doesn't have permission from the state commission from which she leases the land.

The request for an injunction filed Wednesday by Madden states that Pete's Harbor owner Paul Uccelli can terminate the leases and sell the upper portion of the property for development. In fact, the request states, "we wish her well.” But, it also states Uccelli does not have the right to evict the boaters because she does not have approval from the California State Lands Commission to transfer the lease agreement to developer Pauls Corp. which plans a 411-unit waterfront housing development.

Uccelli's representatives, however, maintain that she has paid the state hundreds of thousands of dollars for 28 years of back rent and interest but did so under protest because the amount demanded is unreasonable. Paula Uccelli was informed in December that she owed $409,253.24 which left her "shocked” because she and her late husband, Pete, had been unsuccessfully trying to pay the state for 28 years, according to her spokesman Adam Alberti and her attorney Ted Hannig.

"Now, years later, it is wrong and disingenuous for the State Lands Commission to suddenly speak up and bully Paula, a 70-year-old widow, into paying far beyond her legal obligation by threatening to terminate her lease